Jim Deva Plaza

The plaza at Davie and Bute — beside the permanent rainbow crosswalks that mark the centre of the Davie Village — carries the name of Jim Deva, co-founder of Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium and one of Canada's great free-expression fighters. For decades, Canada Customs seized shipments of LGBTQ books bound for Little Sister's; Deva and the bookstore fought back all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada in the landmark Little Sister's v. Canada case. The plaza's signature artwork says it plainly: a giant pink-and-turquoise megaphone, the 'Speaker's Corner' by Hapa Collaborative, celebrating the voice Deva refused to let anyone silence. He died in 2014; the plaza opened during Pride season in July 2016. Today it functions as the Village's living room — programmed by the West End BIA with performances and community events, filled during Pride, and busy on any sunny evening. What you see today: the megaphone (occasionally away for repairs and faithfully craned back), rainbow crossings, benches and the ebb and flow of Davie Street. Free, always open, and the natural starting point for a Davie Village evening — with the Vancouver AIDS Memorial a ten-minute walk away at Sunset Beach.